Daily Inspiration: Meet Mircea Goia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mircea Goia

Hi Mircea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Romania and more specifically in Transylvania. Yes, THAT Transylvania! Yet, I am no vampire…or am I :)? If I am I certainly one who loves the sun, that’s why I moved here in Arizona.
I love the sun maybe also because for a time I worked as a deep shaft coal miner in my home country. There was no other jobs available in my small town mono-industrial region from Transylvania so I had to do it (had a family to take care of me being the oldest sibling – among other three siblings and my mother).
But after a while I’ve had enough of the mining and started to learn computers and Internet, which was a new thing and a very new thing in my country too. It took me about two years to learn enough to get a job as web programmer for a German small company, working remotely. During several years I built for them a fully fledged e-commerce website, kind of Amazon but specialized for cookbooks. That allowed them to survive Amazon’s onslaught (which just entered Germany at that time) and actually thrive (at some point 60% of their sales were Internet sales).
But of course that wasn’t the only thing I have done….
At some point I connected with an American who came ot my small town to establish a non-profit organization thorugh which he planned to help kids in my town become more involved in the local town’s affairs. Why? Well, because kids of today are the adults of tomorrow and the more and early they know about administering a town the better is for the future of that town (some may decide to become more involved at adult time).
I helped that organization for some time building a website system to put all those towns online (my region is comprised from 6 towns) at a time when not many Romanian towns were present online. Each town had their own website which they can update (no programming necessary).

But several years later I won the American Diversity Lottery Visa program, a governmental program which awards 50,000 immigrant visas to people around the world (a computer does decide who is winning, hence the “lottery” name). I was lucky and didn’t expct it. But because I won I thought to try this country named America, of which of course I knew quite a few things and not just because of its movies). I always told myself that if nothing goes well here in US I can always return. But fortunately things did go reasonably well here to make me stay. And not only stay but become America citizen as well.

Here in US I worked in the same field in the beginning: computers/Internet. But then the 2008 crisis struck and I was out of job for several months. In the end an education company reached out and hired me. Still working for them today.

In the meantime my bug of filmmaking didn’t let me go so I started to become more and more involved in the local filmmaking scene. not long after that i have become more involved in the LA filmmaking scene because, you know, that’s the epicenter of this industry. Still is but other centers arised.
While being involved I started to learn visual effects, because I have seen how important are for modern moviemaking and how important is to have this knowledge (not just as a visual effects artist buit also as a director, producer, cinematographer…so you will know what to ask to a visual effect artist when time comes).

In the last couple of years I worked for some feature films, a potential TV series and commercials as a visual effects artist and set photographer (both as a second jobs).
Actually, I am now in the process of finishing yet another feature film which will be launched next month (another feature film about vampires – the irony – will launch at the end of this month).
I am also involved in organizing the Romanian Film Fest Arizona https://arcsaz.org which takes place every year in November at Majestic Cinema in Tempe thorugh which we are trying to bring Romanian films to the Arizona Romanian but also American audience (movies are subtitled).

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My first America year wasn’t easy at all. I was living in West Virginia in a small town, pretty much resembling the small town in my Transylvania (including mining). Basically I was unemployed for a year. Why? Because American companies didn’t want to hire someone fresh of the boat with no American working experience. But in my field, web programming, a computer and a code is the same as is in my home country.I never understood this argument of not having American working experience. How can I if not given a chance??
But someone at some company here in Phoenix did give me a chance (she saw my resume through a friend of mine who worked there). I got the interview and moved here. Living here in Chandler since then.
How did I survived that first year? I kept my job at that German company working still remotely. The money was good for my home country but here barely helped me survive (I didn’t have much expenses except the rent – living with a roomate – and the phone bill. And food of course.).

Losing the first job after 2008 economic crisis wasn’t easy to digest either. Luckily, I am good with money so I had enough savings to survive for another year without work. Which I cannot say about some of my American colleagues. Saving money for dark days didn’t seem a priority for them. But in three months I found another job….or better said it found me because I wasn’t actively looking.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Beside working in education, as I said, I do visual effects for movies, TV, commercials. My work credits can be seen on IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3223682 but also in some movies which either launched or it will launch soon this year. If you are curious I do have a presentation reel as well: https://vimeo.com/882372128
Also, another hobby I have is photography and you can see my work on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mirceagoia. I usually do landscape photography but also some fashion photography from time to time.
And I try to have everything I do on my personal website https://www.mirceagoia.com but I don’t always keep the site up to date.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Resilience I think is one of the most important qualities to succeed. Not to abandon fast what are you trying to accomplish.
Knowledge and the ability to seek it and distill it is also another essential quality (this goes with the ability to think critically). Especially distill it because nowadays there is lot of fake knowledge out there. And it’s getting worse.
Not the last but the ability to take care of yourself and your health is another quality required to succeed. If you are not healthy and well (mentally included) how can you pursue your dreams?

Pricing:

• For visual effects my rates are usually the US market rates but sometimes I do make compromises, especially if I like a project or/and I like the person I am working with. For photography I don’t have a price as usually I do this as my hobby, not seeking material gain. But depends of the work, of course.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mirceagoia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirceagoia
• Other: https://vimeo.com/882372128